A Needle and A Sword
by Tixxy
Summary: A horde of walkers has overrun Alexandria and the Grimes group is left to struggle, survive, and make it out on the other side yet again.
1. Chapter 1

~Hi everyone. I'm sorry I haven't updated Call Me Rick Grimes for a while, but I've been in the middle of a stressful move. This story is a cofic between me and Lyra Verse. I hope you enjoy and I plan to update my own fic within the week. :D ~

 **Chapter 1 : Story Time**

"Someone should tell a ghost story."

Everyone in the Anderson house turned to look at Tara as if she had said the most ridiculous thing in the world. And it may have been.

Rick, Michonne, Maggie, Glenn, Abraham, Rosita, Carl, Judith, and the Andersons were currently boarded up in the Anderson house. Tense, fearful, and ready to fight due to the herd of walkers that had managed to get through the walls of the ASZ and were currently passing through the streets. All of the residents were holed up in their respective homes and in this particular home, Rick was pacing back and forth, his hair messy and his eyes wild as he searched mentally for ways to get everyone out of this mess safely.

Jessie Anderson was sitting on the couch, holding a fearful Sam against her chest while Ron sat on the armrest beside her. He wore a deep scowl. Jessie looked for all the world as if her soul had long abandoned her and was floating somewhere near the ceiling. She only glanced catatonically in Tara's direction. Then her eyes went to Rick as they had been doing for the past hour.

Wide, hopeful eyes willing him to think of something soon. Some way to save them.

Michonne, her sword on her back and her dreads sweeping her shoulders, turned to glance at Rick as well after Tara's statement. As she expected, his face showed a hint of irritation as he tilted his head in Tara's direction but then he was back in his own mind, contemplating their next move.

"I don't think this is the time for ghost stories, do you?" Maggie asked.

Tara shrugged her shoulders and pointed at Sam with a well-meaning look. "I just think maybe we can try to take Sam's mind off of it for a bit?" she said, her voice thin, as if she was just now realizing that her suggestion may not be the best one.

"And you think a ghost story would do that?" Abraham asked.

"His mind _needs_ to be on what's out there," Rick said, his words short and clipped. "Everyone needs to be alert."

The sound of gnashing teeth and growling grew closer. When something impacted the wall outside, probably a curious walker, Sam whimpered and pushed closer to his mother's chest. Everyone else tensed and got their hands on their weapons.

"Shh," Jessie said, stroking Sam's hair. "Shh."

Her gentle requests didn't seem to be working though. Large tears began to well beneath Sam's eyelashes and his whimpering began to turn into a sob.

Michonne grew fearful at the noise he was making. The walkers didn't know they were in the house yet. If they started to think fresh meat was inside, they would all pile against the doors and windows until they got inside or the group inside was forced to come out.

"Do you _like_ stories, Sam?" Michonne asked quietly. She anticipated a glare asking her what she was doing from Rick so she sent him one back telling him to mind his own business and continue to think of a way out of this. Rick sighed and shook his head but he simply turned on his heel and continued to pace, leaving her to do what she wanted.

Sam glanced up at her with his wide eyes as if he hadn't understood the question. Michonne sighed. The boy was gone somewhere deep in his fear. The people of Alexandria had never really experienced something as terrifying as a walker herd. Taking care of his fears was going to take some doing, and the wild eyes of his mother weren't helping.

"Carl?"

The teenager glanced over at Michonne, alert and ready to help anyway he could. "Do you think Sam would like to hold Judith while we told him a ghost story?"

Carl looked down at his baby sister, then over at the pale faced boy. The corner of his mouth pulled back with hesitation, but he finally walked over to Michonne. "As long as he don't squeeze her too hard and make her cry," he said, handing the baby over to the younger boy.

"You ever held a baby before?" Michonne asked the boy who was now only breathing hard to hold back his tears so he wouldn't startle the baby.

"No," he said in a quiet whimper as Judith's soft weight settled into his arms. He nestled her slowly against his chest as if she were something precious. And she was in this altered world. Maybe the last one anyone would see for a while. A long while.

"Well, now you're doing it," Michonne said, her teeth glimmering in the darkness of the room. "Do you think you're up for hearing a ghost story now?"

Sam seemed to think it over while he stared down at the sleeping Judith. He gnawed on his lip. "Sure. Yeah."

Carl sighed and sat back in his chair, pulling his gun out of his waist band and removed the clip to check how much ammo he had and patted his pocket to mentally check the extra.

"Tell it loud enough so I can hear it too," Carl blurted.

Michonne smiled, then looked over at the sulking Ron. "You want to hear it too?"

"Don't care," he grumbled.

Michonne rolled her eyes. With zombies trying to get at them from outside, she didn't have time to worry about a teenager who didn't appreciate the danger they were in. She wished they'd had more time with the preparation classes before this herd had come through, but they'd only managed to cover the basics of barricading and shielding in their twice a week sessions.

"Jes-"

"You gon' ask everybody's permission or are you going to tell the story?" Rick snapped. Already tense from hearing the zombies shuffling and growling through the streets, he didn't need the added anticipation Michonne seemed to be trying to build for her story.

Michonne sent another glare in Rick's direction. "I was going to ask Jessie if she minded me telling a story to her boys," Michonne argued back in a clipped tone. Rick only glared back but he was already feeling sorry for having snapped at her. His nerves were on edge and it was simply hard for him to find it pertinent to have one of his best fighters give some of her attention to such an asinine thing when they were in such a dangerous situation. He was finding it hard to believe that Michonne was actually humoring this kind of nonsense.

"Just...do it if you're going to do it," Rick said, his tone a little less sharp. "We don't have time for this."

Michonne rolled her eyes and sighed through her nose as she turned back to Jessie and Sam. Rick was in full pissy, leader mode right now. The best thing to do was not argue with him right now.

"I don't mind if you tell them a story," Jessie said, her voice quiet and soft. Afraid. She barely focused in on Michonne. Her eyes kept glancing to Rick. "Excuse me," she finally said. She started to extricate herself from Sam's one-handed grip but he held onto her and stared at her with wide eyes. "Give me a second, Sam," Jessie requested. "I'm going to talk to Rick for a minute, okay?"

Ron rolled his eyes and gave a loud, audible sigh.

Michonne watched Jessie successfully peel Sam's hand from her clothing and then make her way towards Rick. Sam watched her with wide eyes until his attention was pulled away by Judith making a gurgling sound. He wrapped both of his arms around her to make sure she was kept firm.

"Okay," Michonne said, ignoring Jessie's soft voice behind her. She didn't know what the woman was asking Rick; she was sure it was something about how he was planning on keeping them safe. She tried to stay out of whatever business was going on with the blonde haired woman and Rick. The less she knew, the better. "Are you ready?" she asked Sam, loud enough for Rick to hear – because she knew her stalling was getting on his nerves. But also because she honestly wasn't sure if Sam was ready. She didn't know much about Sam, but from his wide eyes and the stories that Carol told her about him, it seemed that the kid was kind of a scaredy cat. "Are you sure it's a ghost story you want to hear?"

Sam nodded, his wide eyes fixed on Michonne's face. Ron tsked and mumbled something under his breath that sounded a lot like 'yeah right' but Michonne couldn't be sure. She started in anyway.

Everyone in the house was silent and listened to the story because they had nothing else to listen to apart from the groaning and shuffling of the dead outside.

"Once upon a time," she started. "There was a woman who loved a man. And they had a son. The man had many faults but she loved him anyway. That is until his faults – and hers – cost them the death of their son."

Sam's eyes opened wider. He hadn't been expecting the story to escalate so quickly. Carl paused in his alert inspection of his surroundings and turned all of his attention to Michonne. He had heard this story before...

"As fate or karma would have it, the man died soon after. And as fate or karma would have it...the woman didn't. She was left to carry on with all of the pain and guilt of her past. And she knew that was the way it was supposed to be. And so did the ghost of her lover. Because he was always there to remind her."

Rick, turning his head slightly from his discussion with Jessie, cocked one ear toward Michonne.

"One day the woman was walking through a forest, the weight of her losses dragging her shoulders to the ground. Draining all the strength from her muscles. The only thing she carried was a knife to defend herself against the wild animals of woods."

Sam's eyes were wide and right on Michonne. Carl settled back slightly at the change she'd made in her story.

"But the ghost of her lover was always at her side, whispering to her that it was okay to put down the knife. It was okay to give up the fight. It was okay to join him on the other side."

Sam rocked Judith nervously in his arms.

"The woman had been walking and running and fighting for days, and the words of her lover were beginning to sound right to her. She began to tell herself that maybe today was the day she'd let the wolf have her throat." Sam gasped when she growled the word and made a clawing motion at the air. "She'd let the bear have her heart! She'd let the rabid dogs have her arms and legs!"

Carl shook his head. None of those animals really existed anymore.

"She stumbled into a bush and startled a fox that was foaming at the mouth with rabies. She backed away in fear, waving her knife before her. 'No,' said her lover. 'This is the beast that will take your mind and send you back to me.' The woman refused to listen one more time. She slit the throat of the fox. The scent of it's blood brought a wolf. She bared her teeth and aimed her knife. 'No,' said the ghost. 'This is the beast that will take your flesh and send you back to me.'"

Sam and Carl were on the edge of their seats and even Ron had tilted his head to listen.

"The cries of the wolf as it died beneath her blade brought a bear crashing through the woods. The woman staggered backwards and raised her knife to the sky. 'No!' said the voice of her lover. 'This is the beast that will eat you whole and send you back to me.' The woman was tired. Tired of fighting. Tired of killing the beasts who were only serving their purpose in this world. Tired of fighting the voice of her lover who only wanted to hold her again with their son on the other side. Tired of being alone with only a voice to accompany her."

"What happened? What did she do?" Sam asked when Michonne paused in her story.

Michonne glanced around at the eager faces waiting to hear the rest of her story, glad that she'd managed to take their minds off of the wave of walkers still shambling past their boarded sanctuary. She turned a triumphant smirk to Rick, but he only cocked an eyebrow and turned his full attention to Jessie as if he hadn't been listening to Michonne's story. She smiled and shook her head.

"The bear reared back on it's hind legs, standing twice as tall as the woman and three times as wide, it's claws gleaming like razors in the sunlight. The woman raised her knife again, her arm so weak it felt heavy as a boulder. She was suddenly startled by the sound of a smaller animal making it's way through the brush. A small replica of the large bear appeared before her and tucked itself behind the protective strength of its mother. 'If you kill her, her cub will be alone? You will not do that, will you? Put down your knife. It is time to join us on the other side.' The woman's hand trembled at the weight of her decision. What do you think she is going to do?" Michonne asked, raising an eyebrow at her attentive audience.

"She has to kill it," Carl said.

"She has to spare it," Sam answered at the same time.

"You idiot," Ron piped up. "She can't spare it or it'll kill her!"

"She can spare it and then still avoid the bear!" Sam fired back, offended by his brother's tone toward him. "None of them have to die."

"Someone does. That's the whole point of the story." Ron turned his focus back towards Michonne. "Isn't it?"

"Everyone quiet down," Rick growled. He shared yet another look with Michonne, since it turned out her story was making them even louder.

"What would you do, dad?" Carl asked, catching Rick off guard. Everyone was silent and turned to him.

"It's obvious what you would have to do," Abe said when there was no immediate answer. He was speaking up from where he peered out of the window at the walkers passing by. Everyone turned their attention to him. "Kill mama bear _and_ the cub. So that the cub won't grow to be mama bear one day." He turned to all of the eyes peering at him and shrugged a shoulder. "Just sayin'. Shit comes around."

Even Maggie spoke up quietly from where she was standing beside Glenn. "Why is no one considering the fact that it may be better for the woman to be with her loved ones? Even in death?"

"Because that's not how it works," Rick said, finally speaking. He turned to Michonne. "Abe's right. The woman should kill the mother and the cub." When she only stared at him and didn't immediately reply, he asked. "So what does she do?"

Michonne smirked. "So _now_ you're interested in the story," she teased.

Rick sighed.

Satisfied, Michonne turned back to Sam. "The woman asks her lover, 'What's on the other side?' His reply is simply, 'Us'. And then he asks, 'What's on _your_ side?' And her reply is simply... 'Hope'. At that moment the bear charges; the woman raises her heavy knife and plunges it into the heart of the beast. Snuffing it out."

A soft gasp escaped Sam's lips. "The cub..." he says.

Michonne nodded as if to say she hadn't gotten to that part yet. "The cub is on its own," she says. "Just like the woman."

Rick felt the muscles in his jaw tense at the harsh reality Michonne had just delivered through her story. It was right. The kids had to learn some day that sometimes that's just how life was. By the sharp look on Carl's face, he could see that his kid already knew that. He hated that Carl already knew that, but that's how the world was now. You protected what you had but in some cases you would end up alone, and even if you did, you still had to keep going. If he lost Carl, he didn't think he could go on, but if Carl ever lost him, he hoped it would be a different story. A longer story.

"I liked the story," Carl said into the silence. "The cub has to learn to fight for itself at some point."

Rick couldn't help but feel both a sense of pride and a sense of loss at his son's words. In so many ways, Carl was no longer a little boy.

"It was harsh. Why couldn't she just go be with her family?" Ron asked. "We've got zombies running around outside. You could at least tell us a story with a happy ending."

Tara scoffed. "What? Maybe the bear turns into her lover and the cub is actually her kid and they run off together happily ever after because she fought so hard and found 'hope,'" she air quoted, sarcasm dripping off her tongue.

"What's wrong with that?" Rosita asked, her thick lips pursed. "That would make a cute story."

"What now all of a sudden there's magic?" Abe scoffed.

"There was a ghost..." Sam said with a bit of a smile, his mind completely off the zombies running around outside. "If there's a ghost there can be magic too."

Michonne raised her eyebrows. "You want the happy version."

"Who doesn't?" Rick asked under his breath.

"Fine," Michonne said when Sam nodded. "When she ran her knife down the bear, her lover popped out, as full of life as he had always been. 'You fought to stay alive. You never gave in. Come into my arms. We are your reward.' The woman's eyes glistened with tears as her knife dropped from her hand. She didn't care if it were illusion or dream. 'We?' she asked. The bear cub shambled forward and pulled it's face back by it's muzzle revealing the small face of her child. 'We.' Her lover confirmed. And she took their hands and led them out of the forest to live the rest of their lives together in happiness."

Carl stood up and dropped a hand on Michonne's shoulder. She had had a bit of trouble scraping the last few words from her throat and he knew she was wishing the same story could be written for her own family. Michonne patted his hand, cleared her throat and quickly stood. "Everyone happy now?"

"No," Rick grumbled. "But I'm slightly less depressed. When Judith gets old enough to understand you, I certainly hope you don't end stories like you did that first one."

Michonne rested her hand on the hilt of the knife at her hip. "I'll end a story any way I please if I'm the one telling it."

"It was horrible," Jessie interjected with a small, weak smile. As if she was trying to find happiness but it wasn't quite there yet. "I almost wished I told you not to tell it. But yeah, the second ending made up for it."

Michonne didn't reply but Jessie's interjection made her slightly irritable. 'Who even asked you?' she thought to herself. Then she felt silly for thinking such a childish thought. "Yeah, well, maybe someone else can try telling a story next time. I came up with that on the spot, you know?"

"I thought it was a great story," Carl said, taking up a position near the boarded up windows again.

"Thank you, Carl," Michonne said quietly. She could always count on Carl to have her back.

Rick chuckled at the exchange between Michonne and his son. Only Michonne could have him admitting to liking a children's story. If anyone else had told it, he would have sworn up and down that he wasn't even listening because it was too childish.

The sound of a gunshot split through the air and the slightly playful atmosphere that had settled in the Anderson home quickly dissipated just like that. "What was that?" Jessie asked. She had instinctively grabbed ahold of Rick's arm.

"Mom?" Sam called, becoming wide-eyed and afraid again. Ron was tense and wary but remained in his seat and everyone else got their weapons at the ready.

"That had to be Tobin or someone," Rosita said. "One of ours would know not to fire any weapons at this time. Unless they had no choice." Her eyes grew fearful at the trouble the others could be in if it warranted them firing a weapon in the midst of a herd. Her thoughts went to Aaron and Eugene. What if either of them was hurt?

"One of ours?" Jessie repeated.

No one responded. Everyone knew what Rosita meant when she said 'one of ours'. There had been an invisible line between the group and the ASZ residents ever since they arrived at the gates. That line hadn't disappeared yet. And Jessie was naive if she thought it had.

Michonne saw Judith's lip begin to tremble from the sudden noise outside and the tense atmosphere that had entered the home. She quickly bent down and gently took the little girl from Sam's arms. "Carl," she called quietly.

Looking over, Carl immediately left his spot at the window, placed Judith's sling on his back and then went to Michonne – turning so that she could place the baby inside. Michonne stroked the girl's hair and Carl gently rocked with her to quiet her before she could start sobbing.

"We have to get out of here now," Rick said, squinting through the windows. He saw that most of the herd was quickly moving towards the gunshot that had sounded. Now was their chance to make an escape.

"What? Go out there?!" Jessie asked fearfully, her eyes wide and looking very much like her youngest son's in that moment. "We can't go out there! We'll die! We can wait them out in here!"

"Keep your voice down!" Michonne snapped. "Now is the best time. They're completely distracted and we can make slightly more noise since we have a larger group. We wait any longer and they'll become uninterested in whatever noise that was or they'll have completely taken out the distraction."

Jessie's face blanched at Michonne's words, but she didn't have time to soften anything up for the woman. They were in a terrible situation and a spoon full of sugar wouldn't make that truth any easier to swallow.

"Everyone get your weapons."

"But we're safe in here," Jessie protested with a sob.

Michonne gave her a withering look. "We're not safe anywhere. Not really."

Jessie turned to Rick for support but he was busy checking the amount of bullets that were in his gun, just as Carl had done earlier. "Abraham, Sasha, Glenn, Maggie, rear. Carl, Michonne, Rosita, Tara, you're point with me. Every one else, stick to the center but keep your knives ready. We can't slow down to protect you so you should do your best to protect yourselves and everyone else. Understood?"

Everyone nodded, the people of Alexandria a bit more hesitantly than Rick's core group. Rick didn't like having to place their safety in the hands of the inexperienced, but he had some of his best with him and that would have to even out their chances.

"She won't be too heavy for you while we're running around out there?" He asked Carl and the boy tightened Judith's sling on his back.

"I've got it," Carl said with confidence, his voice just on the brink of deepening and his shoulders beginning to widen into the breadth of manhood.

Rick smiled briefly, but proudly at him, then locked eyes with Michonne. "Ready?" he asked, tilting his head toward the side door they were going to exit from. She nodded. "Alright, first let's see how many stragglers we got in this direction and what vehicles are available. It was a good idea to keep all of the town vehicles loaded with a few miles worth of gas in case of a situation like this."

Michonne grinned. It had been her idea. Daryl had been responsible for collecting the fuel on his frequent runs with Aaron and they'd managed to bring back plenty. They could get in and get out quick with the use of Daryl's motorcycle and it didn't burn as much fuel as the cars to travel the same distance. She was kind of hoping she could find one for herself in the future. Chrome and white leather. She smirked. That was something she would dream about while they clawed their way through this herd of walkers and out to the other side. And if she didn't make it through, it was a nice thought to go out on.

"Thinking about that bike again?" Rick asked with a chuckle when he caught Michonne's expression in the darkened glass he was looking out of. She'd confessed it to him on one of the rare occasions he'd asked her what she was thinking about when she was smiling for no reason.

"Thinking about how good it'll feel to kick your ass if you don't hurry up and count the two walkers shuffling around back there and get us out of this house."

"What if it's Carol or somebody who needs help?" Glenn asked quietly from behind them. "We can't just leave them."

"We'll regroup and think of a plan once we're safe," Rick said back to him. "First we need to get the kids out of here."

Michonne's eyes went to Carl and Judith, knowing they were the main priorities.

Michonne's eyes then went to Sam, the poor wide-eyed kid who seemed to be afraid of everything. She looked at the equally frightened Jessie and grew worried for them. "Hey," she said to Jessie, who was trembling as Sam came to cling to her shirttail. Jessie's eyes met Michonne's. "You have to be Mama Bear out there, you know that right?"

"Things didn't end well for Mama Bear..." Jessie whispered, her face pale.

"But you understand what I mean," Michonne pushed.

Jessie gave a short nod.

"Just stick close to me," Rick said, looking over his shoulder at the other woman. "You'll be alright."

Jessie nodded again, more bolstered from Rick's statement. She took Sam's hand and pulled him closer. "Ron," she called, her voice shaky. "Get close."

Ron ambled over, too on edge to put up a fuss.

Michonne checked in with Carl one more time and then once everyone was in position, she turned back to Rick. "Don't you dare get bit," she said quietly.

Rick smirked over at her cockily, looking more confident than he felt. "Who do you think you're talkin' to?"

A small, satisfied smile flashed across her face at his response. She pulled her sword from her back. "I'm talking to the man who got scared off by a simple kiss," she whispered teasingly. Her words got the desired effect when a red flush rose above Rick's collar and he turned quickly to face her. He obviously never expected her to bring up what had happened a few days ago. When Carl, a dare, and a quick kiss had been involved.

He quickly focused back on the mission at hand, placing his hand on the doorknob.

"You ready?" he asked, his eyes darting nervously.

Michonne chuckled. He was so predictable. "Yeah," she said. "We're ready."

"On the count of three. One. Two. Three. Go!" Rick pushed the door open and the group of people flooded out into the streets filled with distracted and straggling walkers.


	2. Chapter 2

~Sorry about not updating my fic like I said I would, and thank all of you guys for liking and reviewing our fic :D :D ~

 **Chapter 2 - Forgetfullness**

"Where'd that shot come from?"

Aaron turned to Eugene with his question who looked deceptively calm despite how afraid Aaron knew he was. They'd gotten separated from the larger group they'd been a part of when the herd had first broken through the Alexandrian fence.

Eugene cocked his head, doing mental calculations based on the speed of sound and the number of items the waves would have to reverberate off of in order to be loud enough for he and Aaron to hear it.

"Somewhere near the church," he finally responded. "Father Gabriel doesn't like to carry a gun, so it probably wasn't him setting it of. I don't know how many people were still at service when all of this went down. And how many had a chance to get a weapon."

Aaron nodded, his mind turning to his lover and wondering if he was part of the group that could have been in the church and might now be overrun because of someone's either foolish attempt to kill a walker or last desperate move to save themselves or a loved one. He couldn't bare to linger on that thought for long and would just have to suspend worry and grief until he either saw his boyfriend's face or he didn't.

"That means a big wave of them will be heading in this direction soon. We're only a few blocks from them in this direction."

Eugene nodded in agreement, wishing he was better at using the gun at his side, but knowing that wishes were no good when it came to something involving skill.

"We have to used the old 'cover ourselves in zombie gut' trick," he finally muttered, his stoic face breaking in a frown.

Aaron sighed and looked down at the blue-buttoned up shirt he'd worked hard to keep clean all of these months and that he wore every time he and his boyfriend had a romantic dinner. Tonight would have been a special night. He'd finally found a ring that would fit Eric's finger out his last run with Daryl. And the chocolate diamond-cut stone in the masculine, platinum ring would have perfectly matched his soft eyes.

He patted the lump in his pocket knowing that he and Eugene would need to come up with a game plan if they were going to get enough zombie guts to make it through this herd.

"You want to head out first to look for some or should I?" He finally asked when Eugene remained crouched in the corner, his eyes flicking back and forth as he seemed to be solving a large equation in his mind.

Eugene squinted up at the sand-haired man and said thoughtfully. "Maybe we can just head down to the cellar and lock ourselves in and wait for this whole thing to pass."

Aaron heaved a heavy sigh again and made his way toward the door to search for a straggler. "I'll be back in a bit." He hesitated at the door then pulled the ring box from his pocket and tossed it to Eugene. "You always somehow manage to make it through these things. If I don't come back, give that to Eric for me."

Eugene fumbled to catch the ring and started to protest when he saw exactly what it was, but by the time he looked up Aaron was already gone.

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Michonne followed the path Rick made through the walkers with his vehicle. Carl and Judith were in the passenger seat beside her. The teenaged boy now held his baby sister in his arms. Rosita, Maggie, and Glenn were in the backseat.

"That was bullshit!" Maggie fumed from the backseat as they crashed through stray walkers and revved towards the front gates. "She could have gotten us killed!"

Michonne was upset as well but she tried to reason through the situation. Seeing things through Jessie's eyes. "This is the first time she's seen so many walkers," she said. "She panicked. Rick told her to stick with him so she did just that."

"Yeah, and screw everybody else. We shouldn't have broken formation! We don't know where Sasha is!"

"She broke off a while back," Michonne said, trying to keep calm. "If anybody can make it through this. Sasha can. She's probably holed herself up in an elevated building and is getting ready to clear away some of them from a distance."

"What's that?" Rosita suddenly said. "Is that Aaron?"

Michonne looked out of her window and saw Aaron fighting off a group of walkers. He was handling himself pretty well, but it was clear that in a few minutes the odds would be against him. More walkers were closing in on him. "Shit," Michonne said. Without pausing for a second thought, she stepped on the brakes and flung her door open, grabbing her sword from where it was propped on the floor of the passenger side. "Someone take the wheel," she yelled. "Follow Rick. Stick to the plan. I'm going to help Aaron."

"Michonne-! Shit." She was gone before Glenn could get another word out. He hurried out of the backseat and took the wheel. "Rick isn't going to like this..." he mumbled. Them showing up without Michonne...Rick wasn't going to like it at all. He stepped on the gas and followed the path that Rick's car had taken.

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Rick drove out of the gates of the ASZ and continued to make his way down the stretch of road. He would keep driving until he no longer saw hoards of walkers ambling nearby.

"That was reckless," Rick growled between his teeth to the woman who was clinging to her kids in the backseat. "You broke formation. We don't do that!"

"I was scared," Jessie said breathlessly. "I needed to get my kids out of there."

"And I needed to get _my_ kids and the rest of _my_ people out of there along with yours and your stunt senselessly risked all of our lives! You think we don't know what we're doing out there?"

Jessie was close to tears. "Of course I know you guys know what you're doing. But my kids-"

"Are just fine on their own if you stop babying them!"

Jessie gasped. Rick had never spoken to her like that before. He was usually patient and listened to all of her worries. She'd thought he cared about her. "I-"

"Jessie!" he snapped, taking a fraction of a second to cut his eyes at her to make sure she was paying attention to what he was saying. "I am driving through wave after wave of zombie right now. We don't have time to cry and rehash! If you can't tell, my own children aren't with me, so you'll have to pardon me if I ain't got time to listen to your whining. I've got to make it out of this then check to see if my son and my daughter lived to see another day. You understand me?"

The blond woman pressed her lips closed together in order not to say another word. She felt stupid and selfish for her actions and her words. Of course he didn't have time to be soft with her. He was worried and probably scared for Carl and Judith. She sat back in the seat, her arms tight around her boys. She could understand that.

Rick glanced up in the rearview mirror, glad for the silence so he could focus on dodging as many walkers as he could so he wouldn't risk clogging the engine, when he nearly slammed on the brakes. For a moment he thought he'd seen a dark figure in a white tank top hop out of the car behind him as it briefly stopped, but when it kept moving he decided to believe it was stress that made him think he saw Michonne throwing caution to the wind. What reason would she have to get out of the car and try to wade through zombies with her sword. He shook his head and tried to calm the tide of tension washing through him. _Carl is alright. Judith is alright. Michonne will take care of them. Michonne will survive this. Michonne can survive anything. Michonne will make sure my kids will survive. Michonne will take care of my kids if I don't make it through this tonight._

He chanted these sentences over and over again in his mind as he dodged one obstacle after another on his way out of the fence that once surrounded Alexandria. It had kept him sane and remained true for the previous months since they'd met the sword's woman and it would hold true until one of them dropped dead.

If there was anyone he could count on in all of this, it was Michonne.

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 _Dammit!_ Michonne snarled mentally as she tried to run toward Aaron and another cluster of walkers blocked her path. _Why can't they go mosey somewhere else!_ She cut through them as swiftly as she could, expending as little energy as possible as the creatures gore drenched her clothing.

"Aaron!" She called, wanting him to know that support was on its way. There weren't many people from Alexandria that she would risk her life for, but Aaron had managed to get under her skin with his soft-spoken and constantly optimistic ways. Not to mention his unconditional love for Eric. She'd hate to see a man like Aaron go down. "Eugene with you?"

Aaron turned to Michonne with obvious relief on his face. For a minute there, he thought today was the day he would die for sure. But with Michonne's appearance, he felt a new surge of hope. "He is," Aaron said. "I left him back at one of the houses."

Aaron stuck his knife into the head of an oncoming walker and Michonne cut through the skull of another that tried to attack him from behind. "Let's go get him," Michonne said. "There should be another vehicle we can use to get out of here."

"We're leaving?" Aaron asked. His mind went to Eric, probably still holed up somewhere waiting for the herd to pass.

"For now," Michonne said. "We're gonna regroup and come back."

Michonne took down two more oncoming walkers with a swing of her blade and Aaron knew they didn't have time to waste. He began to fight his way back towards where he had left Eugene. "I'm glad to see you," Aaron said gratefully as they went. "I would hug you if I wasn't worried about becoming walker food the minute I turn my back."

"Maybe later then," Michonne said good-naturedly with another swing of her blade, felling yet another walker.

When Aaron and Michonne made it back to the house, they found him crouched in the position he had been left in. "Oh thank God," the man said, standing when they came through the door. "I was much afraid that I would be left fulfilling your final wishes," he said to Aaron as he handed the other man the ring he had left him with. "But I see you met a superheroine of the finest order." He nodded towards Michonne who sent him a bemused glance before helping to pull one of the walkers they had killed through the door with them. "I have long since wanted to tell you how much I admire you and all that you do," Eugene continued speaking to Michonne. "You remind me of the great Wonder Woman. Or Supergirl. Or Storm. Can I ask which fictional alter ego you would prefer to associate yourself with?"

Michonne sent Eugene another bemused look as she and Aaron finished fortifying the door of the house once again. She grabbed a pair of leather gloves off of the kitchen counter and threw them to Eugene. "Help us cover ourselves with walker guts and I'll tell you."

The gloves slipped through Eugene's fingers before he picked them up and covered his hands with them.

"Was it you two that fired the gun?" Michonne asked, wasting no time in bringing her sword down to pierce the chest of the dead walker and then slicing down to his naval.

A frown of disgust crossed Eugene's face as Aaron answered the question. "No," he said. "Eugene thinks it sounded like it came from the church."

Michonne wondered what could have happened at the church to cause someone to fire a gun.

Though disgusted, Eugene bent down and began to dig through the walker's insides to grab anything that he could. Since he was the one with the gloves, he figured that it was his job to cover himself and his friends with the walker guts. With a handful of rotting gore in his hands, he stood up and faced Michonne so that he could start to put some of it on her body. His hands level with her chest, an awkward second passed. He moved forward to spread the guts there but Michonne's voice stopped him. "Don't you dare. Go lower."

Eugene's face turned the darkest shade of red, then paled when Michonne's fierce and unamused expression caught his eye. He chuckled nervously and smeared the guts against her stomach before draping the intestines around her neck.

Aaron didn't waste any time in covering himself. He piled the rotting flesh and juices on himself with wild abandon, then wrapped his hand in a scrap of walker cloth so he could still grip his knife in his slippery hands. Michonne made sure Eugene was thoroughly covered, then gathered the men behind her as they headed off into the night in the direction Glenn and Rick had driven their vehicles. She hoped to run into one that she and her small party could use on the way.

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Sasha, perched high in a guard tower picking off Walkers that were more solid than others so that they wouldn't damage the cars of fleeing Alexandria inhabitants on their way out of town. She also got one that had nearly managed to sneak up on a blindly running Eugene. She shook her head, smirking to herself. She felt all powerful up in her tower with her sniper rifle.

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Carl held Judith in one arm as he swiveled his neck to check if Michonne had made an appearance. He hated the unease in his gut he'd felt when she'd jumped from the car, but she was always confident and she was always alright.

"Hey, your dad's slowing down," Glenn said, breaking Carl out of his worrisome thoughts. "Nah, he's just turning."

Carl rolled his eyes. Glenn liked to talk, even if it was just to make an observation.

"How many walkers do you think Michonne has killed by now?" he wondered out loud.

Maggie perked up from the back. "I'd say over thirty. That sword can take down at least five at a time from the right position."

Carl grinned proudly imagining Michonne's stance when she made a clean chop of a walker's head. "I'd say more than fifty."

Glenn rolled his eyes. They acted like Michonne was some kind of superhero. What was he? Chopped liver? He'd take out at least a hundred with his car. "Hey, Carl?"

He said, catching the boy's attention. "Yeah?"

"Who do you think your dad is going to end up with? Michonne or Jessie?"

Carl smirked. "Well, I know who he's already kissed."

Everyone in the car's necks suddenly developed a quick pivot as they tried to catch a glimpse of Carl's face. "What?! Who?! Who did he kiss?"

Carl smirked, cocky in the information he had that the others did not.

"Michonne?!" Maggie guessed. Judging from Carl's self-satisfied reaction, it had to be Michonne. She couldn't see the boy looking so pleased over his dad kissing Jessie.

"No way," Glenn said casually. "She would cut his junk off."

"Glenn!" Maggie warned. But Carl only chuckled.

"Um. Did y'all see the way she was checking Rick out after he shaved? I think cutting his junk off would be the last thing on her mind if he sprung a kiss on her," Rosita said. "She'd have other uses for it."

"Rosita!" Maggie said. "Not you too." She nodded toward the front seat where Carl was.

Carl saw Maggie's signal and Rosita's shrug back at her in the rearview mirror. He decided not to comment on the fact that he wasn't a kid anymore. Due to his lack of experiences and lack of being told much of anything due to more pressing matters usually at hand, Carl didn't know much of the relationships between men and women but he knew enough. The things he didn't know; he could correctly guess. But he didn't want to associate man and woman relations with his dad and his best friend anyway so he decided to let Maggie chaperone the car talk.

"So are we to assume your dad and Michonne are gonna start dating then?" Glenn asked.

"I don't think so," Maggie said. "Not just yet. 'Cause he also kissed Jessie too. Remember the party?"

"Oh yeah..." both Rosita and Glenn said. "I saw that and wondered what the hell he was doing," Glenn finished.

"I didn't see it, but you guys told me about it." Rosita looked out the window as they passed by a row of trees. The amount of walkers they saw was getting to be less and less. In the back of her mind, she wondered how jaded they had gotten to become – the fact that they could gossip like this while running for their lives...not knowing how many of them had made it out in one piece. But then again, moments like this was maybe the only thing that was keeping them going. These moments of human naturality.

"How did the kiss happen?" Maggie asked Carl. "I can't see Rick just doing it out of nowhere. He would be too scared of how Michonne would react."

"Well, it depends," Glenn said. "Sometimes Rick can be all alpha man in charge. I could see him being that way to get a kiss in."

"With _Michonne?_ " Maggie laughed. "No way. The man is putty. You see the way she bosses him around. He doesn't know what to do with her!" Rosita laughed at Maggie's observation of Rick and Michonne's relationship.

"So how'd it happen Carl?" she asked. "We're curious."

Carl smirked and shook his head, liking the thought of being in control of such important information. He could give it out or he could keep it to himself.

"Come on, Carl," Glenn said. "I'll get you a Gameboy Advance with a fully charged battery the next time I'm out."

Carl rolled his eyes. He didn't care about playing video games. They were a waste of time to him. He jiggled Judith lightly in his arms, wondering what the next offer could be.

Maggie leaned forward. "I'll get you a new shirt."

He scoffed at that one. He didn't have boobs so he could walk around as bare-chested as he pleased.

"I'll take care of Judith for _a week,_ " Rosita called.

Carl laughed. "I _like_ taking care of Judith. It's you who doesn't."

Rosita pulled her lips in a faint snarl and folded her arms to stare out of the window. She didn't really have much else to offer.

"A new knife!" Maggie said.

"A sword!"

Carl's head tilted at Glenn's offer. Seeing the look of interest, Glenn smiled.

"One just like Michonne's, but shorter so you can use it. I saw her teaching you how to hold hers a few days back."

Carl tried to keep the eager expression off of his face, but it was difficult. A sword? Like Michonne's?! If he learned how to use it properly, he could be just as badass as Michonne and fight side by side with her and his dad instead of always being backup.

"I want a black one though," Carl said to Glenn.

Glenn pumped his fist at his victory and dodged around the first walker they had seen in ten minutes. It really seemed like the herd was decreasing. "Alright! Now tell us. Did your dad kiss Michonne?!"

Carl smirked and nodded, then burst out laughing when everyone gasped in shock. If it were possible, they would have drawn all of the air out of the car.

"What?!" Glenn rasped. "He kissed Michonne and he survived?"

"Of course," Carl said proudly and matter-of-factly. "And it was Michonne who made him do it."

This earned another round of gasps and what's. "What do I get if I tell you the whole story?" Carl asked, finally understanding what it meant to be able to barter information. If he could get a sword for just giving an affirmative answer, what would he get if he told everyone the entire story surrounding the kiss that had happened between his dad and Michonne. From the curious and eager expressions on everyone's faces, he knew it could be something awesome.

After being promised a sword from Glenn, a new outfit for Judith from Maggie, and a week of Eugene being at his beck and call from Rosita...Carl finally began to tell the group in the car about the game of Truth and Dare that he and Michonne had embarked upon a few days ago.

"First of all..." Carl started. "It's all my dad's fault. Because he tried to butt into the game when he wasn't even playing in the first place..."

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 **A Few Days Ago...**

"I dare you to go outside and take a joyride on Daryl's motorcycle," Carl said to the lounging Michonne. It was an odd feeling, but they had an off day on that particular day. The walls were secure. The guard tower was manned. There was a lack of walkers ambling outside the gates...It had been a good day. So Michonne and Carl decided to take advantage of it by goofing around.

She turned her head to look at the young teenager. A smirk was on her face. "You call that a dare?" she asked, getting up off of the couch. She walked to the window that Carl was currently at and looked out towards the street where she could see Daryl's motorcycle lying in wait. She wouldn't mind taking it for a spin; the only worrying factor was that it wasn't quite her size. She pursed her lips in thought and as she was in the midst of thinking about her next move, her eyes found Rick standing on their neighbor's porch talking to the woman next door, Jessie Anderson. She shook her head when a goofy smile spread across his face at something the blonde woman said.

"Yeah," Carl said in response to Michonne's question. "Daryl doesn't like anyone touching his bike."

"He may not like it," Michonne said a bit distractedly, her eyes still on Rick. "But a dare's a dare." She turned back to Carl with a sudden idea. "How about this..." she said. "You go over there and distract Daryl. While I take his bike."

Carl smiled a devilish smile at the prospect of being able to be in on the plan too. "Okay," he said, excitement tingeing his voice.

"Okay," Michonne repeated, just as excited.

They stepped out of the door and Rick honed in on them as if he could immediately tell that they were up to no good.

"What are you two up to?" he called over to them, his blue eyes peering at them over Jessie's shoulder. The other woman turned to see who he was talking to. When she saw Michonne and Carl, she smiled a greeting.

"Nothing," Michonne called back. "What are _you_ up to?"

"Nothing," Rick said back, his eyes squinting suspiciously.

Michonne and Carl walked down the steps of their house and she peered back at him with a much-too-innocent expression. And then she gave a shrug. "Okay then."

Rick chewed on his tongue for a bit, then looked at Jessie. "I don't think I can believe them."

Jessie chuckled a little a shook her head, her blonde ponytail swaying with the motion. "I'd say you're right to think that."

Rick stared at Carl's retreating back. The kid seemed to be headed in the direction where he knew Daryl was helping with the maintenance of the weapons in the weapon's locker. He glanced back at Michonne who seemed to have a singular focus on Daryl's bike. He shook his head. "Excuse me," he said softly to Jessie. She giggled.

"I guess you're off to play Sheriff?"

He put two fingers to his forehead and saluted flirtatiously. "Guess so. Later, ma'am."

Jessie laughed as she watched his back when he walked down the stairs of her house, wishing that Pete has been just as full of humor and strength as Rick was. Strength and the integrity to use it for the right reasons.

"Michonne!" Rick called out, causing the woman to cut her eyes at him with a scowl. "What you got Carl up to now?"

She grinned and pulled the keys from Daryl's motorcycle and dangled them in the air. He usually left them with the bike since he knew no one in Alexandria was bold enough to take it and he trusted the rest of the Grimes' crew to think one of them would take it for a joy ride because of a truth or dare game with a young boy.

Michonne chuckled to herself as she tossed her leg over the thick leather seat. She balanced on foot on the ground and the other on the rest and she inserted the key back into the ignition.

Rick laid a hand on the high handle bar of the machine, his eyes studying Michonne with a frown. "Where are you going? And what did you send Carl off to do?"

Michonne looked at him, noticing how his blue eyes seemed to bore right through her. "Me and Carl are playing a little game."

He leaned toward her. "A game?" He looked around. "A game that involves you getting on Daryl's bike and Carl going to talk to him for-... Is he distracting him while you... you what?"

She grinned. "Go on a joy ride." She patted the few inches of space behind her. "Wanna join me?"

A spot of color appeared on his cheeks and he shifted away from her, realizing how close to her he had been leaning. Michonne didn't usually seem approachable or friendly despite how she acted with his son and him on occasion when he caught her in the right mood, but she seemed somehow a lot smaller and a little bit softer sitting on Daryl's large, chrome bike. "What game are ya'll playing?" He asked with a grimace.

"Truth or dare," she answered with a gleam in her eye.

Rick sighed through his nose.

"What?" Michonne asked, her smile falling. "You gonna be uptight again?"

Rick's eyebrows rose to his hairline. "Uptight?!" he asked.

Michonne nodded matter-of-factly.

"I'm not uptight."

Michonne stared at him as if she couldn't believe he actually uttered those words. Rick sighed again and shifted on his feet under the weight of Michonne's look. "Fine," he said after struggling with some inner thought. "Get up."

Michonne sighed and got off of the motorcycle, accepting that her fun was about to be cut short by uptight and bossy Mr. Rick Grimes.

"Gimme the keys."

Michonne frowned up at him as she handed the keys over. 'He acts like he's the owner of the bike or something,' she thought with disdain. But a line of confusion formed between her brow when Rick didn't do what she expected – saunter over to Daryl's house with the keys and tell the archer what they had been planning. Rick swung his leg over the bike and took a seat. When he put the key in the ignition and revved the engine, a smile grew across Michonne's face.

Rick turned to her with twinkling, teasing, blue eyes and a smile that lifted his lips on one side. "See you around the block," he said before bringing up his feet and accelerating off into the distance, leaving Michonne behind in a gust of wind from the start-up.

"Carl!" Michonne called excitedly. She didn't want the teenaged boy to miss one of his father's coolest moments. Carl turned to her and hurried back just in time to see the back of his father's shirt blowing out as he sped down the street on Daryl's bike.

Shielding her eyes so that she could see better, Michonne laughed as Carl realized what was going on. "Is that my dad?! Cool!"

Jessie whooped good-naturedly from her front porch.

"Oh my God," Michonne laughed. That had honestly been unexpected. Her heart was pounding from the suddenness of it all.

"What the hell?!" Michonne laughed harder as Daryl trotted toward them, confused about his missing bike and the retreating figure in the distance.

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"Wait! This happened?!" Maggie asked, pausing Carl's story. "Where was I?!" She would have loved to see Rick Grimes riding the streets on Daryl's motorcycle.

"I don't know," Carl said carelessly. "Probably holed up with Glenn somewhere."

The couple blushed and kept their eyes on the road, knowing that Carl was probably right. Heck, it was the end of the world. They could protect it and have a little bit of fun too.

"But this still doesn't explain the kiss," Rosita said, barging in. She loved gossip. And if she could have some information before Carol did – for once – she was going to soak it up as much as she could then gloat when she and the woman finally met again face to face. If they did. But knowing how tough the older woman was, she figured there was a good chance she would get to lord it over her that she knew about Rick and Michonne when Carol didn't.

Carl turned smugly to the window, keeping his eyes on the car his father drove a few yards ahead of them. "I'm getting to that."

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 **A Few Days Ago...**

Rick pulled the bike to a stop in front of a whooping Carl and Michonne. Daryl, right next to them on the sidewalk didn't look nearly as pleased with the man.

"Get off my bike," he growled low. Not threateningly, but with a scowl so deep Rick knew the man was close to throwing a tantrum. For a big, skilled man like Daryl, it was surprising how much he was still like a little kid.

Rick smiled and cut off the bike, swinging his long legs over the seat as he stood up, chin to eye with Michonne. She tilted her head back so she could look up at him.

"Truth or dare?"

Daryl glared at everyone in sight as he hopped on his bike and rode it further down the street.

"Truth," Rick said easily.

Michonne glanced over at Jessie who was still watching the fun from her porch.

"You and her an item?"

Rick turned his head so he could see where she was looking. His brow lowered as he realized he'd completely forgotten about the pretty blonde when he'd walked over to Michonne. He shook his head slowly.

"No?"

Rick startled. "What?"

"You shook your head," Michonne observed.

"Naw, I was..."

"So you _are_ an item," Michonne asked.

Rick huffed out a small breath of irritation as she kept interrupting him. "Will you let me speak?" he asked.

"I _would_ if you would actually speak."

Rick blinked down at Michonne but didn't continue with the argument knowing how circular it would be.

He glanced up in time to see Jessie wave goodbye to him and then disappear inside her house. A small smile still played on her lips after witnessing his antics.

"We're not an item," he said to Michonne. "I shot her husband for Christ sakes."

Michonne shrugged. "You both aren't acting like it..." Rick squinted over at her with his hard blue eyes and she quickly changed the subject, not wanting to broach it while Carl was there. "But I was asking for future reference."

"What future reference?"

"Truth or dare."

"You already asked me."

"So? I can ask again. Right, Carl?"

Carl shrugged. "Sure."

Rick looked down at his traitor of a son and wondered where he went wrong. "Fine. Truth."

Michonne tsked and tilted her head to the side, giving Rick a curious once-over. "Are you one of those boring players who always picks 'Truth'?"

Rick sighed. Apparently there was nothing he could do right. "You're policing my 'truth or dare' choices now?" He began to walk towards their house and smirked a little when Michonne and Carl began to follow along beside him. It was a strange feeling but he enjoyed when it was the three of them together. It felt somehow natural.

"You're the one who wanted to play."

"When did I say I wanted to play?"

"When you butted in and stole my motorcycle ride!"

Rick barely contained a smile as he looked over at her, remembering how much she enjoyed watching him take off on that thing if her whooping and hollering was any indication. He smiled, in good spirits. "Fine," he said. "Dare."

"Kiss me," Michonne said, not believing he would ever do it. The man was too much of a stick in the mud even if he'd run off on Daryl's motorcycle for half of a minute.

Rick blinked in surprise and confusion, glancing down at his son who looked distinctly embarrassed, but had a stubborn tilt to his chin, refusing to believe that his dad would be such a coward to turn down a dare.

"What happens if I don't follow through on a dare?" Rick asked carefully, remembering playing truth or dare during one of his first college parties and getting particularly drunk because he refused nearly every dare. Since Michonne was playing with Carl, the stakes couldn't be that high.

"You have to shave your head," Carl said calmly.

Rick's eyes shot open wide. His son had been playing truth or dare with Michonne and had probably done every dare just so he wouldn't end up looking like some delinquent. What had he been doing that he didn't know Carl was running around playing such games with Michonne. What had he been dared to do? He began to wonder if maybe the stolen chocolate bar from the storeroom might have something to do with the game.

"Shave your head?" He wondered out loud, glancing at Michonne and wondering how the dread-locked woman would look with no hair. He shuddered at the fierce image he conjured. She was scary enough as it was. If she shaved her head, the walkers would just drop back down dead of their own accord.

"So I either have to kiss you or go bald?"

"You so scared of a kiss you'd rather go bald?"

"Dad, you're scared?"

Rick felt his mouth opening and closing at their taunts and the disbelief in his son's voice. He looked down the short distance to Michonne's lips. He'd never even thought about kissing her in passing, there always seemed to be a kind of barrier between them. "Umm."

"I could kiss you if that would make you a little less scared," Michonne teased with a smirk. "And you still wouldn't have to shave your head. You'd look terrible bald."

Carl nodded in agreement. "Yeah dad. You'd look really old and ugly. A whole lot worse than you do now."

Michonne nodded in agreement, a critical expression marring her otherwise smooth complexion. "There are some people who absolutely can't pull off bald," she muttered. "And you're one of them."

Rick looked from Michonne to his son, then back to Michonne again when he found no support there. He thought about walking away. He didn't have to play their stupid game. Just as he thought about pivoting on his heel and heading up the street, Michonne bounced up on her toes and planted a quick kiss on his lips. Immediately drawing back and laughing when she caught a look at his stunned, blushing expression. Carl pursed his lips in embarrassment, then found himself laughing at his dad too. The man was standing as still as a tree and the dumb sound that walker's made was scuttling out of his throat like he no longer knew how to form words.


End file.
